The Marshall Project

Drawing from Memory: A Former Prisoner Creates Art from Pain and Loss

Vincent Nardone’s work is on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut.

The incarcerated artist Vincent Nardone stopped painting when he realized he might be annoying his cellmate. “I ended up slinging paint all over him and the room,” he said.

He picked up a ballpoint pen. “I thought, there must be a way to transform this pen into a paintbrush.” Instead of lines, he made

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